


Blank Map

by RowboatCop



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Coulson needs Skye, Equal Partnerships are Hot, F/M, Older Man/Younger Woman, Skye gets promoted, increasing levels of support, skoulsonfest2k14
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-31
Updated: 2014-08-31
Packaged: 2018-02-15 14:29:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2232420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RowboatCop/pseuds/RowboatCop
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Skoulsonfest2k14 Day 7 Prompt "Increasing Levels of Support"</p>
<p>Coulson and Skye have a late night discussion about the kind of support Coulson needs from her. (Which is mostly professional, and only a little about smashing their faces together.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blank Map

“You can’t sleep either, huh?”

She’s not surprised to find him sitting in the shared living space of the Playground. Neither one of them is stranger to late nights, and tonight they’re in a strange place, in strange beds. And even though Ward is in jail — probably a little bit _because_ Ward has to be in jail — it’s scary. With Fitz across the compound fighting for his life, it’s scary. With Simmons’s red-rimmed eyes haunting her thoughts, it’s scary.

Skye thinks she should feel better about everything, given that they’ve won.

“In a way, these kinds of victories are the worst,” he says, reading her thoughts. “When it feels like we’ve still lost.” His voice is slightly rough and deeper than usual — exhausted, yes, but also a timbre that makes her shiver.

She meets Coulson’s eyes, then, and walks towards him, sits where he pats the couch next to him.

“I get that.”

“I know you do,” he answers, smiling. It’s a tired smile, but real — like he’s glad to see her, like maybe he specifically wanted to talk to her, like maybe he thinks she’s the only one who could really get it.

She tries to push that idea away — it’s reading her own feeling onto him, and she knows it. She’s been trying not to think about him so much, trying not to think about their relationship as special.

Except, of course, that it _is_ special.

His hand lands softly on her forearm, and he rubs up to her elbow, down to her wrist, across the back of her hand before dropping his fingers away. It’s too brief, the sensation fades away too quickly, and she wants to reach out and grab his hand, hold him to her.

She wishes that he wouldn’t _do_ things like that, except that she doesn’t actually wish that at all.

“We’re safe for a little while,” he offers.

“Until the next thing happens.”

“Yeah.”

They’re quiet next to each other, but it’s a comfortable quiet. Like, there’s no one alive that she would rather sit next to, just being quiet.

“I’m scared,” he says, breaking the silence, and she turns to look at him, shocked. It seems like something Coulson wouldn’t normally say, something he would normally hide.

“Of what?”

“Everything.” He puffs out a breath that might be a sad laugh. “Of re-creating SHIELD.”

“But it’s good, isn’t it? Who better than you?”

He smiles at her, like he’s flattered by her trust, but then shakes his head.

“I need to understand where we went wrong before.”

“So the same thing doesn’t happen again.”

“Did the founders of SHIELD invite in Nazi scientists because they were trying to give them a second chance? Was it purely economic? Was it scientific interest? What was it about SHIELD that made it so easy for HYDRA to grow inside of it?”

“What history do we have? Because you _know_ I’ve got some ideas about what was wrong with SHIELD.”

Coulson smiles at her, then, and shakes his head.

“I know you do. That’s why…”

He pauses, runs his hands up and down his bare arms, looks down at his sweats.

“This probably isn’t the time to do this,” he says.

Skye rolls her eyes at him.

“A better time would be when you’re wearing a suit?”

“I’m going to ask you something as the Director of the new SHIELD, not as…” He trails off, and Skye leans forward, as though getting closer will make his thoughts clear.

“As?”

“I’m going to ask you something in an official capacity, not as your friend.”

It might be the first time he’s ever explicitly referred to himself as her friend. She sort of likes it — likes the reassurance that he thinks of them like that. As equals. Two people who understand each other.

“Can’t you just ask me as both?”

“I just want to make sure you know that you can say ‘no.’”

“I’ve never been good at saying ‘no’ to you anyways.”

It’s an innocent statement, or it’s meant to be, but it instantly feels bigger than that.

Their eyes lock, and his lips curve upward in a smile that’s too private. His head tilts slightly to the side, and she can’t squelch the feeling that he’s thinking about kissing her. Thinking about other things she wouldn’t say ‘no’ to. Which she wouldn’t. She would actually say ‘yes’ very loudly, except that that isn’t _possibly_ what he’s thinking about.

Skye breaks the eye contact and closes her eyes, trying to rein herself in before she kisses him.

“I want you to be the assistant director.”

The words bring her up short — shock her enough that she forgets her embarrassment enough to look at him.

“I figured it would be May.”

Coulson nods.

“May doesn’t really want it,” he tells her, shrugging. “She gets impatient with bureaucracy.”

“Wasn’t she basically _running_ SHIELD’s bureaucracy for a while?”

He grins at her and shakes his head.

“There’s a reason she was so eager to get on board the Bus.” Their eyes meet, and he smiles at her again. “Besides, May is Ops. And what I need is someone who thinks differently.”

“Differently?”

“Someone who can design missions and get through security systems and get inside people’s heads. Someone who knows how to operate within a loose affiliation of like-minded people. Someone who is willing to be honest about where SHIELD went wrong before.” There’s a long pause, and she can see him struggling with words. “You. I need you.”

Her breath catches in her throat, and it’s not even that it sounds suggestive (although, yes, that too), it’s just exactly what he said, in exactly the professional way he meant it. She’s still not used to being needed, not used to being considered so valuable.

“You think I’m qualified for this?”

“I _know_ you are,” he answers with complete assurance. “But only if you want it. It would mean more work, more responsibility.”

“I don’t mind that,” she answers. “I want to help. This...SHIELD is my life.”

“I know.” He looks almost sad for a minute.

“It’s not a bad thing, you know,” she tries. “SHIELD is my whole life, but it’s full of the best people I’ve ever met. And it gives me a way to make a difference. What could be better than that?”

His lips curve into a soft smile, and his eyes roam over her face — it’s familiar, but she still blushes under the frank admiration in his gaze.

“So you’d be interested?”  

“Yes.” She has no hesitation about this. Skye’s not a believer in fate, but it feels like something she’s _meant_ to be doing — working with Coulson, rebuilding SHIELD, making it better.

“I’m not… I’m not looking for a subordinate. I’m looking for someone who will be honest.”

Skye rolls her eyes.

“Honestly, AC, did I ever act like your subordinate even when I definitely was?”

“Never,” he answers, meeting her eyes with a soft smile that says that her insubordination has always been a good thing.

“Thank you for this. It means a lot.”

Coulson shakes his head.

“Don’t thank me. Me asking is selfish, not a favor to you.”

“Then any time you want to be selfish by asking me to be your partner, I’m okay with that.”

He smiles at her, but her word choice strikes her as potentially dangerous — potentially saying more than he probably meant to.

“Not that...not that I’m saying you have to consider me a partner. I know you don’t.”

Coulson’s smile falls.

“I do. I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t.”

“Oh.”

She might cry, which isn’t what she wants to do in front of Coulson, especially not right now. But he’s already given her so much, and somehow he finds a way to give her more — more than she thought she’d ever have.

“Okay?” He lays a gentle hand on her shoulder, and the deep lines across his forehead and around his eyes telegraph his worry.

“Yes,” she answers, almost laughing the word. “I’m probably going to hug you right now. Would that be okay?”

In response, he curls his arm around her shoulders, invites her to slide next to him. Skye fits her nose against the bare skin of his neck and holds on — it feels like she’s holding on for dear life.

“We’ll figure this out together,” he promises her, and they’re the best words she’s ever heard in her life.

Skye takes a deep breath against his neck — pulling in the scent of him that is familiar even though they’ve never really been this close — and exhaling slowly. Coulson shudders at the stream of air, lets loose a quiet moan, and Skye presses a kiss there, some sort of reflex that skips her brain entirely.

She freezes and pulls back, apology ready on her lips, but Coulson’s expression says he’s not interested in an apology. He’s staring at her lips, and Skye’s eyes are drawn downward as he licks his own.

“This might be a terrible idea,” he murmurs, just before he leans forward and kisses her, soft and gentle and questioning.

When Coulson pulls away, it’s not really away — just enough to take a breath against her lips.

“ _Definitely_ _not_ a terrible idea,” she tells him, leaning forward enough to close the small gap.

He responds more eagerly this time — his lips part against hers, his tongue chases hers into her mouth, his whole body turns to bring them chest to chest.

“Oh,” he breathes out the surprised sound when Skye pulls back. His whole expression is pleased and surprised and completely adorable in a way that makes it impossible not to kiss him again.

She pulls back after that, though, lays her head back on his shoulder and wraps an arm around his chest. With this, as with rebuilding SHIELD, there's giant question mark. There's nothing that looks remotely like a plan. But there's also comfort that even if she doesn't know what she's doing, she'll be doing it with him. 

“We’ll figure this out together, too?” She asks him, quietly, and she can feel him nod and brush his lips against the top of her head.

  
  
  



End file.
